THE SNIPERS PERSEPCTIVE

Over the past few years, time after time, year after year, the Washington Capitals and Alex Ovechkin would go into the playoffs with high hopes, loads of potential, Stanley Cup favourites, just to “choke” when the big moments arrive. But in the 17-18 season, the Capitals finally won the ultimate prize in sports, the Stanley Cup!

Which now leaves Steven Stamkos, as the next veteran superstar, who goes into the playoffs with super teams who cannot get the job done when it counts. Both Stamkos and Ovechkin have been over the years highly criticized for their play in the playoffs. Both receiving plenty of criticism stating that they cannot lead their team to victory. Let’s take a look at the stats of these guys when the games “matter the most” in the playoffs.

Ovechkin: In 121 playoff games, he has 117 points. Almost a point per game player. Now since he won the cup last season, lets subtract last years stats so we can see what they were like when he “couldn’t lead his team.” So without last season, Ovechkin had played in 97 playoff games and had 46 goals and 90 points. That’s pretty good as playoff hockey is much more difficult than the regular season, but lets dig a little deeper.

In elimination games, where the Capitals could either move on, or get knocked out, Ovechkin had 12 points, and a +2 rating in 15 games. Again, almost a point per game, and in game 7’s he had 8 points in 10 of them, which sure looks like he showed up despite all the criticism he received.

Now let’s take a look at Stamkos.

In 66 career playoff games, he has 51 points. Which still is not a terrible number but it definitely does not compete with his regular season stats. But digging deeper, this is where you really need to take note on Stamkos. In elimination games where the Lightning could either move on or be eliminated, Stamkos has 0 points and is a -2 rating. Also in game 7’s Stamkos also has 0 points. In this past season, the Lightning had 2 chances to knock out the Capitals and move onto the finals and the entire Lightning team failed to record a single point!

While this is a team game, and it relies on an entire team to win, your star players still must show up when it counts. And by these stats, Stamkos has never, not once, showed up when it counts.

With Ovechkin having his cup now, the criticism will be solely on Stamkos now, and if he wants it off him, he better start to show up when his team needs him!